Nothing's Stopping Us
by lotuslove345
Summary: (HIATUS) Phil was forced, by his over protective and over controlling mother, to never see his best friend, Dan, ever again. But that's not stopping them, is it? Years pass and after several secret meet-ups, the friendship they shared blossomed into something more beautiful. PHAN AU. (reviews will be loved!)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Alright then, hi. Welcome to my first Phanfiction! I've written a few fanfics back then (if you wanna check them out) but this is the first time I've written a Phanfic. And I really hope you'll like it! If you want to see the actual summary of this story then you might wanna check it out on my profile, it's all there :)**

**Just a little heads up if you don't know the summary, Dan and Phil started out as 11 year-olds in this story. But the boys grow up (obviously) as the story goes on, so don't worry ;D**

**Story inspired by the songs: I Can't Wait Forever by Simple Plan, Distance by Christina Perri and In Your Shadow I can Shine by Tokio Hotel. (Go check the songs out! They're amazing. And maybe you might hint out the things that would happen in the story if you listened to them)**

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**-_Nothing's Stopping Us_-  
**

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**Chapter 1: I owe you**

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_I never realized how beautiful the sky really was, even when it's in the day. The way the sun shone its orange rays through the clouds made it even more beautiful._

_It was around 5:00 pm when I realized I was starting to get lost in the beauty that was the outside world. I never really appreciated it; I was always isolating myself inside my house, watching telly, playing a lot of video games and all that stuff._

_The way the wind brushes against my skin, the way it ruffled my hair, the way it made the leaves on the ground fly._

_The sound of birds chirping,of trees rustling, it relaxed me._

_I was simply at peace._

_A familiar voice, calling out my name, pulled me out from my state of mind._

* * *

"Dan?" Phil called out, kneeling beside his best friend, who was lying down on the grass, and looking over him with a worried expression.

Dan, finally coming back to his senses, looked up at the tree above them with wide eyes, blinking several times. He looked around him curiously; they were under a tree in a playground. He noticed Phil, kneeling beside him, looking a bit worried.

"Phil..." he breathed out, letting his best friend know that he's conscious.

Phil let out a huge sigh of relief. "I thought you weren't going to wake up this time," he chuckled.

Dan occasionally did this, he would be sitting (or lying) in silence and then he would zone out, completely getting lost in his own thoughts. Phil never really understood why he would do this, what could possibly be going through that big head of his that made him get lost in it so easily.

Dan giggled as he sat up. "What time is it?" he asked.

Phil checked his watch and said, "5:40 pm, we need to get home or my mum's going to murder me."

Dan nodded. "Yeah, wait… but what about..?" He quickly looked around the playground. It was surprisingly clean, no dry leaves littered the grass, they were all compiled into one big clump that sat beside the tree they were under.

Dan stared back at Phil. "Phil, did you clean the playground all by yourself?" he asked.

Phil looked at him for a second and nodded nervously. Dan felt guilty. He was supposed to clean the dry leaves that littered the playground with Phil, but instead, he let Phil do it all by himself whilst Dan, on the other hand, was too busy daydreaming under the shade.

"Phil, we were supposed to clean the playground together; you should've woken me up…" Dan said, looking at Phil with a guilty expression.

Phil shrugged. "It's alright, it wasn't that hard and it didn't really take that long. Plus, you looked so peaceful; you know, you had a really long day and I thought you might need some peace and quiet." Dan caught a glimpse of Phil's pink cheeks for a second.

Dan sighed; he stood up and brushed his clothes, his best friend doing the same. He walked over to the two rakes that rested on the grass, walked back and handed one to Phil.

Phil gave Dan a genuine smile and Dan smiled back, still feeling rather guilty that he let his best friend do all the work for him.

"Now c'mon," Phil enthusiastically said as he started to walk out of the playground with a rake in one hand. "It's getting late and we still need to get these back to Ms. Jackson."

Dan sadly nodded and followed him. "I'm sorry I slacked off, Phil… I owe you one, how 'bout I buy you that ice cream you've been craving for since you got here? I have some spare change." Dan smirked.

Phil looked at Dan with a surprised expression. "Are you crazy? My mum's going to kill me once she finds out…"

Dan scoffed. "She's not going to find out, don't worry!" he said. "You need some sweetness in your life. I can imagine eating only 'vegetables' and other 'healthy stuff' must've been driving you insane."

Phil shrugged.

"C'mon, you have freedom. You don't have to be doing everything that your mum tells you to do. You have your own choices, it's your life, you can do what you want to do and make choices that you want to choose." Dan said, looking over his best friend's blank expression.

Phil looked back at Dan, locking eyes. He gave him a smile and shrugged again.

Dan chuckled and playfully punched his shoulder. "Don't just shrug at me. Think about what I said Phil." he said, "I'm just… you know, a bit worried because I feel like your mum has been way too controlling over you nowadays. I just wanted to remind you that you can make your own choices too, okay?"

Phil sighed and smiled at Dan again. "Okay…"

Dan was right; Phil's mother had been _way_ too overprotective and controlling over her 11 year old son.

Phil understood that his mother was just worried about him, he understood that his mother wanted what was best for him and everything, but what Phil didn't understand was that his mother barely gave him his own sense of freedom.

His mother wouldn't buy him consoles or computers, she wouldn't let him watch telly for more than 3 hours a day, she would only feed him 'healthy food", she wouldn't let him out after 4:00 pm, she would tell him who to be friends and who to hang out with, etc.

Phil was lucky that she still agreed to him hanging out with Dan, he found his own sense of freedom when he was with Dan. He would play video games in his house and they would watch telly for hours (and his mum never found out about it). And now, apparently, Dan had offered to buy Phil some ice cream.

He never stopped hanging out with Dan ever since they moved in the neighborhood when he was 8. Dan and his family lived next to them, his family gave Phil and his mother a warm welcome and Phil's mother became very good friends with Dan's parents. Dan, on the other hand, became best friends with Phil, they would hang out with each other all day every day (well of course before 3:30 pm) they were inseparable.

Without Dan, Phil probably would've been a hundred times miserable by then.

* * *

"Here you go, Ms. Jackson," Dan said as he and Phil handed the two rakes to Ms. Jackson who was standing by her garden.

"Thank you," she said coldly as she took the rakes from both of their hands. "That's what you two get for littering my garden and destroying all my garden gnomes. You're both very lucky I didn't tell your parents and made them pay for it. Especially your mum, Philip, I know what she's capable of…"

Phil sadly nodded; he knew his mother would find out anyway.

"I'll go check out the playground to make sure you didn't just slack off. Do something worse to my garden and you two would do more than to just clean the playground," she warned.

Ms. Jackson was paid to clean out the playground by the mayor, even though it seemed like an easy job, it wasn't. She would gather up dry leaves, wipe down the slides, swings and the others when it gets wet from a rain.

They both nodded. "Yeah, sorry again, Ms. Jackson…" Dan apologized as we began to walk back to our neighborhood.

As they were walking back, they quickly spotted an ice cream truck parked on the other side of the street. And it wasn't just some random ice cream truck, it was Alan's.

Alan worked in an ice cream truck as a part time job. It was his father's ice cream truck and he was basically following his father's footsteps. As years passed, being an ice cream vendor became his full time job. Alan had been serving ice creams to Dan since he was 5. They became very good friends; Dan would buy ice cream from him two to three times a week and socialize a bit. And because Dan was one of his loyal customers, Alan insisted on serving Dan free ice creams. Dan said otherwise, since it would be kind of unfair to Alan that he would give out unpaid ice cream (even though he really wanted them free).

"Hey look, Phil. It's Alan!" Dan nudged. "So how 'bout that ice cream we talked about earlier? You up for it?"

Phil shrugged. "I don't know, Dan… are you sure it's okay? I mean, you think my mum would find out?"

Dan gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Phil. She won't find out, and it's the least thing I could do for you since I slacked off and you did all the work for me back there at the playground…"

Phil smiled back at him and hesitated a bit before answering. "O-Okay…"

Dan gave him a wide grin before walking to the truck, casually crossing the street. He took out the change he had in his pockets and began to count it as he crosses, not looking where he was going.

Phil was a bit concerned that Dan wasn't paying attention to the road. He suddenly began to panic when a car came out from the corner of the street and was speeding towards his best friend, who was a bit too distracted from counting his change still.

Dan was walking extremely slow, completely unaware that a car was speeding towards him.

"Dan!" Phil cried out. Dan turned and saw the car, unable to make an expression.

Time seemed to slow down as the car, a few feet from Dan, approached the boy. Before the car's hood hit Dan, he was reluctantly pulled behind by the collar of his shirt, away from the car's direction.

Phil saved Dan but he didn't anticipate something speeding towards him in the other direction. Whatever was speeding towards Phil actually ran into him, making crash down onto the hard ground.

_And then everything went white…_

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**A/N: Wow, okay. Sorry if** **the first chapter sucks BUT I promise it gets better! I really hope you guys like it! _  
_**

**If you like it (or if you want me to continue it) then make sure to follow, fave and review to let me know! :)**

**K byeeeee! See you next chapter!  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hallo! welcome back c:**

**I luv you already for reading this (even though you've only reached two chapters) because I loved writing this fic, I had a lot of fun writing it and you have no idea how thankful I am that you're reading it. I really appreciate your support :'D**

**Anyways, enough tears. Enjoy the story! :D**

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**Chapter 2: It was all him  
**

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Mrs. Lester was merrily dusting the shelves above her TV set and carefully arranging the bouquet of flowers that sat neatly in the center of her glass coffee table. Her day was going pretty well; she was in a pretty good mood.

She checked her clock, 6:50 pm. And her 11 year old son hasn't come back yet, this made her panic a bit. He should've been back two hours ago. She usually tells him to come home at 3:30 pm, but this rule was an exception when it comes to weekends when she realized how hard she _has_ been on her son. The least she could do was to give him 3 extra hours to hang out with his friends, or more specifically, to hang out with Dan.

She never really liked Dan that much. From what his parents told her, he was a trouble maker, he gets himself into trouble a hell lot of times, he gets detention quite frequently at school. And she feared that his bad attitude would drag Phil down with him, hell, he was already dragging Phil down with him.

Ever since Dan started to hang out with her son, Phil went to detention several times with him; he started to get in trouble around the neighborhood with him. Dan was clearly a bad influence to her son, but she couldn't just pull Phil away from him, at least not just yet.

His son was clearly enjoying Dan's company, she could see him laugh and smile casually when he was around; she could see the sparks in her son's deep blue eyes. But she still knew that Dan's bad attitude was rubbing off on Phil, and she wouldn't let that happen.

She was just waiting for the moment when Dan finally crosses the line and she has no choice but to separate them both, whether they like it or not.

She was suddenly pulled away from her thoughts when the phone from the living room started ringing. She quickly picked it up and answered it "Hello?"

"Hello ma'am, am I speaking to Philip Lester's parent or guardian?" a friendly woman asked from the other end of the line.

"Yes, this is his mother speaking, who is this?" she asked with worry in her voice, slightly panicking from the mention of her son's name.

"Ma'am this is Alice from the A&amp;E, the one near Rossendale Valley, and I'm here to inform you that your son, Philip Lester has been in some sort of accident earlier and he has been brought here, he needs a parent or guardian to come and pick him up." The woman said.

Mrs. Lester felt her heart stopping for a minute. Shocked, worried, terrified and petrified was all she could feel. Her eyes, wide as it could get, began to form tears. Her mouth terribly trembling, she couldn't get any words out of it, she didn't know what to say.

The woman from the other line began to call out to her after a few seconds of pure silence. "Ma'am..?"

"O-Oh my god…" she managed to quietly stutter out to the woman, a tear finally rolling down at the side of her cheek. "I-Is he alright?! Oh my god… what happened?! I-I didn't-"

"M-Ma'am, please calm down. I can assure you that your son is fine; he just needs someone to come over and pick him up. We'll fill you in with everything after you get here, okay?" the woman calmly said.

"A-Alright, then… I-I'll be on my w-way…" Mrs. Lester, who finally managed to steady her breathing, gave out a big sigh. "Thank you…" she breathed out to the woman on the phone.

"No problem…" the woman quickly told her the address before hanging up.

Mrs. Lester grabbed her coat, quickly ran to her car and drove up to the A&amp;E where her son was in. Once she arrived at her destination, she turned off the car's engine, locked and exited her car, then quickly sprinted inside, asking the receptionist her son's room number.

After speed walking around the halls, she finally found her son's room and busted in, seeing Phil, Dan, and a bunch of other people who littered around the room.

There was Phil, sitting at the edge of the bed, Dan, sitting right next to him, an unfamiliar guy who sat on a chair facing Dan and Phil, and another unfamiliar guy who sat in the corner of the room, wearing a helmet and knee pads, probably a cyclist.

The doctor approached Mrs. Lester and offered her a seat, she sat down and gave her son another quick glance, noticing something different.

He was wearing a cast on his left arm, and there were several scratches on her son's legs and face. He kept his eyes glued to the floor, not once looking up to see his mother worried expression. She also gave Dan a quick glance, nothing wrong with him; just a few scratches on his arm.

After a few minutes of just sitting around, Mrs. Lester finally broke the silence. "Can someone please tell me what happened to my son?"

The three older men (the doctor and the two other men that was in the room) exchanged glances before moving their chairs closer to Mrs. Lester.

"Umm, I saw the whole thing, ma'am…" one of the guys stated. He looked fairly young, he didn't look older than twenty five, and he was wearing a uniform with an ice cream logo printed on his shirt's pocket. He tightened his grip on the apron that was neatly folded in his hands; she caught a quick glimpse of his name tag that was attached to the apron. **Alan**.

"Dan walked over to me, I was parked on the other side of the road so he was basically crossing the street, and then he pulled out some change in his pockets, counting them away without looking where he was going." Alan nervously said "and then this car came out of from the corner of the street and it started to speed towards Dan, he didn't see the car. And then Phil quickly ran up behind him and pulled him away, just in time as the car whooshed in front of them. But at the same time, he-" he pointed at the other guy who was wearing cycling gears, staring down at his shoes and looking guilty "came from behind Phil, riding his bike. Unable to control his speed, he ran into Phil, they all crashed down on the pavement."

Alan cleared his throat before continuing "I exited my van and ran up to them. Everyone seemed to be conscious except for Phil, he hit his head hard on the pavement. So I carried him to my ice cream truck as everyone else followed and we drove up here. We just needed to make sure there aren't any fatal injuries…"

"Which brings me to my next point…" the doctor said as he pulled out some papers from the desk, "Mrs. Lester, according to some x-ray scans, your son's left arm is fractured from trying to support his body's weight as he fell down. We had that problem fixed an hour ago, your son's arm is fine now. Luckily, he doesn't have a concussion; he hit his head rather hard on the ground. We already treated his scratches; he'll be fine by now. You can check him out of here since everything's pretty much covered up."

Mrs. Lester let out a big sigh of relief. She rubbed her temples before fixing her gaze on her son, still not looking up. She found herself staring at the figure next to Phil.

Dan was completely fine, no fractures and just a few scratches when it was him who caused this whole commotion. If he actually looked where he was going, none of this would've happened. Phil wouldn't have saved him, and he wouldn't have fractured his arm. She felt nothing but anger towards Dan.

_He has definitely crossed the line now…_

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**A/N: DUN DUN DUN. What'll happen to Dan? Stay tuned to find out!**

**Remember to fave, follow and leave reviews to let me know that someone actually cares about this story! :D  
**

**K byeeeee! See you in the next chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: HI. So I would just like to say thanks SOO much to everyone who's reading this story, and thanks a BUTT-TON to the people who favorited, followed and left a review for this story, it's really nice to know that people actually read this stuff that I wrote and liked it. I REALLY APPRECIATE IT GUYS! *hug-rapes you***

**Alright, enough hug-raping, lettuce get back to the story ^_^**

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**Chapter 3: Never again  
**

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Phil nervously held his mother's hand as they walked up to the receptionist to check out. Apparently, the x-ray and his operation had been fully paid by the cyclist who ran him over. As his mother signed a few things, he looked back and saw Alan and Dan.

Dan held Alan's hand and he had his head hung really low as they walked up to the receptionist as well. He looked up for a second, catching Phil's gaze and holding it. Phil gave him a reassuring smile, desperately trying to tell him that it wasn't his fault.

He returned it with a sad smile before Phil was yanked away by his mother, exiting the A&amp;E and walking to his mother's car. It was dark out and the ride back home was extremely quiet, it made Phil uncomfortable. He was staring outside the window when the silence was suddenly broken.

"You will never see him again…" his mother angrily mumbled.

The words hit Phil like knives; he moved his gaze from the window and stared at his mother who was gripping the wheels. "M-Mum..?"

His mother stopped at a red light and turned to her son, who was looking at her with a surprised expression, and sternly repeated the words. "You will never see that boy. Ever. Again."

She turned back and drove as soon as the green light came back on, leaving her son with the surprised expression still latched on his face.

The second time she said it, it hit him harder than before. He could already feel the knives stabbing him. This was exactly what Phil feared of ever since he became friends with Dan; he feared his mother wouldn't approve of their friendship anymore, and it was the only thing that kept him smiling.

He fixed his gaze back at the window, feeling completely numb, unaware that tears began to roll down his cheeks. He couldn't say anything; he couldn't think properly, he was just numb.

When they arrived back at home, Phil's mother unlocked the door and walked in the living room while Phil walked upstairs to his bed. "Philip, dinner's on the table…"

"I'm not hungry…" he mumbled loud enough for his mother to hear and continued to climb up the stairs. He entered his bedroom and sat on his bed, letting the silence of his room take over him. He suddenly felt tears rolling down his cheeks again, before he could even think, he began to softly sob.

His little sobs turned into a full sobs as he covered his face with his right hand (since his left hand is in a cast) constantly wiping away his tears and snot. He carefully lay down on his bed, burying his face in his pillows. He continued to cry, letting his pillows engulf his tears, making it slightly damp.

He just couldn't seem to accept the fact that he wasn't allowed to see Dan anymore. It wasn't anyone's fault; it was just one big accident, one little slip up that somehow cascaded into a big black hole that sucked everything that Phil had left.

He didn't know how long he lay there, but the next thing he knew, he heard someone knocking on his door. "Philip? Aren't you coming down to eat?"

"I told you I'm not hungry, mum…" he moaned, "Just leave me alone…"

He heard his mother's footsteps fading away from his door. He sighed as he closed his eyes, trying to get some rest after everything that happened.

* * *

He woke up from the sound of his stomach growling. Who knew getting run over and losing his best friend made him so hungry. He looked at his digital clock. 2: 24 am. He slowly sat up and fixed his cast before going downstairs to find something to eat.

He slowly made his way down to the dark kitchen, hopefully not waking anyone up. He opened the lights and found his dinner sitting peacefully on the kitchen counter. He took out a fork from the drawers and began to eat his late dinner.

After he finished, he put the plate inside the dish washer, closed the lights and walked back up. Before walking up the staircase, he stopped on the doorway to the living room, surprised to see his mum sat down on the couch, looking at him. "Can we please talk, Philip?"

Phil sighed; he knew he was going to face his mother at some point. He walked over to his mother and sat on the couch opposite to her.

"Look Philip, you need to understand why you aren't allowed to see Daniel anymore…" she softly said. "He has clearly been a bad influence. Ever since you started hanging out with him, you began to adapt his terrible attitude."

Phil flinched at his mother's words. How dare she talks about his best friend like that.

"You've been in detention seven times since you started hanging out with him more frequently in school," she stated. "And I know what you guys did to Ms. Jackson's garden, I knew she punished you by raking up the leaves in the playground. I knew all the shenanigans you guys do around the neighborhood and I'm not liking it one bit, Philip."

Phil stared down at the floor boards, not looking at his mother at all.

"I bet you're the only one who raked up all the leaves, didn't you?" she said, a bit too harshly. "I bet he just slacked off and he let you did everything by yourself, that lazy brat. He isn't a real friend, Philip. He's using you to do all of his dirty work for him; he's nothing but a spoiled brat. You even put the cherry on top by saving his life."

Phil felt anger boiling inside of him; she wasn't allowed to talk about Dan like that, and she wasn't allowed to say that Dan wasn't a real friend. He knew he had to speak up; he needed to defend his best friend's reputation.

"You're wrong…" Phil growled.

His mother was taken back. "E-Excuse me..?"

"You're wrong about Dan." Phil stood up from the couch. "He isn't a lazy brat and he isn't a spoiled brat either, you have no right to call him any those things! I know him from the inside and out. He's the bestest friend I've ever had, he's sweet and caring, hell, he was trying to buy me ice cream because he felt bad that I did all the work for him! Yeah, he may be a trouble maker, but that's just because shit happens to him a lot, he isn't always like that! If you ask me, he's the best and the nicest person that I've ever met in my entire life! And now that you've taken him away from me, I'll be miserable for the rest of my fucking goddamned life!"

His mother's jaw dropped, her eyes wide open, surprised that her own son talked harshly back to her. He had never done that before, and the fact that he swore made her mad that her own son could even talk to her like that.

"Philip Michael Lester," she gasped and angrily stood up. "Go to your room right now! You are grounded for the rest of the month!"

Phil ran up his room and slammed the door behind him and threw himself on his bed, unaware that he had a broken arm. But he didn't care; he was frustrated, at himself, at his mum, at the whole world. He turned over to his pillow and screamed into it, letting out all of the anger that was built up inside him.

He spent the next few minutes just staring into a wall, thinking if he would ever see Dan again, he never really realized how much he meant to him until he was taken away from him.

He began to cry himself to sleep, hoping that everything was just a terrible nightmare.

_But it wasn't…_

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**A/N: Aww, poor Phil :( but it gets a bit better so don't worry! Chapter 4 will be coming very soon and I'll be uploading that once it's already cleaned up a bit c:**_  
_

**I hope you guys would still be here until then ^^;**

**K byeeeeeee! See yah next chapter ;D**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Oh hey, 2 chapters in one day :D**

**Enjoy! ^^**

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**Chapter 4: Separating the inseparable  
**

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Dan didn't get much sleep last night; he kept thinking about Phil, he was so worried about his best friend. He knew what his mother was like; she probably had a panic attack when she found out her son's in an A&amp;E.

Alan was nice enough to drive Dan back to his house since his parents weren't home yet, and he couldn't help but think about his best friend all night. He wondered how his conversation with his mother went.

Suddenly, the thought of Phil's mother telling Dan that he isn't allowed to hang out with Phil anymore crossed his mind. He feared nothing than to hearing those exact words.

Dan never had a best friend. Sure, he had a few friends. But he had always felt like the third wheel. His friends had their little inside jokes, they had sleepovers together, and they always partner up with each other every time there would be a school project, and Dan would just be left in the dust.

When he heard that a kid his age moved in right next door, he was determined to befriend him immediately. And he was glad he did. They had a lot in common, they both shared the same sense of humor, same taste in music -they were basically destined to be friends, and he didn't want to leave him.

Dan sighed and he stood up. He walked out of the house and went over to Phil's; he wanted to check how his best friend was doing. He was pretty sure Phil's fractured arm was his fault; there was no doubt about that (even though Phil said otherwise).

He climbed up to the porch, ready to knock on the door. He suddenly felt scared and nervous once his knuckles banged on the wood. Someone quickly walked over and opened the door, it was Mrs. Lester, and she didn't look very pleased.

"H-Hi there Mrs. Lester…" Dan nervously stuttered as Mrs. Lester gave him the death stare "umm… I-I just want to check if P-Phil's okay… c-can I..?"

Mrs. Lester forcefully formed a smile on her face -a kind of creepy one in Dan's opinion. "Daniel… yes, you can come in. But I want to talk to you for a bit."

Dan looked up at her. "Huh? O-Oh, okay…sure." and entered the house.

He sat down at the couch in the living room while Mrs. Lester sat at the opposite. Dan, nervously twiddling his thumbs, cleared his throat; unsure of what was about to happen. "What do you w-want to talk about, Mrs. Lester?"

Mrs. Lester's fake smile quickly dropped. She cleared her throat "Alright, here's the thing, Daniel." she softly said "I don't want you around my Philip anymore."

That last sentence

stung Dan's ears. It echoed inside his head, unable to un-hear what he just heard. "M-Mrs. Lester..?"

"Did you hear what I just said?" Mrs. Lester leaned up closer to Daniel, wearing an intimidating expression. "You are not allowed to hang out with Philip anymore. Understood?"

Dan couldn't think straight, he couldn't concentrate, he couldn't speak. He was just in shock. He felt like he lost his ability to move any part of his body.

"B-But…Mrs. Lester…" he breathed out.

"You still don't understand? Then let me narrow it down a bit…" she cleared her throat and made her voice loud enough it could be heard from the outside "Stay away from Philip. Do I have to write it down for you?"

"W-why? I-I don't… I-I just-"

"And just so you know, Daniel. If I ever see you around my Philip…" she said, he could see the fire in her eyes "I swear I'll have him out of here in no time. He'll be moving back in London, with his father and brother. And I will make sure you won't have any kind of contact with him. Ever. Again."

Dan felt tears forming in his eyes, he couldn't say anything anymore. He just couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Understood?" she growled.

Dan sadly nodded, trying his best to suck in his tears. Mrs. Lester nodded as well.

"Good." she whispered. She stood up and led Dan to the door. "Thanks for taking in some time to talk, Daniel."

"N-No problem…" Dan stuttered (and a bit surprised that he could still talk) as he slowly walked out of the door, not daring to look back at Mrs. Lester. Once he heard the door close behind him, he finally let his tears fall from his eyes. He quickly wiped them away as he walked back to his house.

He swore he heard someone calling out to him while he was walking.

* * *

"Dan! Dan!" Phil shouted out his window, desperately trying to get Dan's attention. Sadly, Dan didn't hear anything; he continued his way to back to his house, eyes red.

Phil quickly ran downstairs to his mother, who was preparing lunch. He knew she had a conversation with Dan, he heard everything from his room (well not everything, it was all muffled).

"What did you say to him?" Phil asked, letting the words spill out from his mouth.

His mother turned around and saw her son's puzzled expression. "Philip?"

"What did you say to him, mum?" he sternly repeated.

Her mother shrugged. "I told him what needed to be told." Phil shook his head in an 'I-can't-believe-you' way. "He needed to know, Philip. Now go back to your room, I'll call you down when lunch is ready."

Phil just stood at the kitchen's doorway, not at all budging. Silence filled the room.

"I hate you…" Phil quickly mumbled to his mother before running up the stairs and slamming the door. Phil's mother flinched at her son's words, she already knew her son was going to hate her anyway, but she couldn't help but feel extremely hurt.

"_Am I being too harsh on him?"_ Phil's mother thought. _"But… it's for the best…"_

* * *

Dan was pacing around his room for an hour now; he had nothing else to do. He played video games, he watched TV and he even did his homework, which was a first. He couldn't just sit there and cry about his best friend.

He walked over to the window and looked outside; he could see Phil in his bedroom through the window. He was reading a book, but he looked as bored as Dan was.

Dan sighed, he wanted to call him through the window, sneak out and hang around the neighborhood like they used to do. But right now, he couldn't risk doing that.

As much as he knew he couldn't hang out with Phil anymore, he didn't want him to leave the neighborhood. He still wanted to see him everyday; maybe they could pass notes in class or something. He didn't know if he could still hang out with him in school, it's not like his mother could monitor Phil twenty-four seven. But he didn't know if it was too risky.

Dan groaned in frustration and he ruffled his hair. He sat down in front of his desk and took out a pencil and some papers then began to randomly doodle.

_Still thinking about his best friend...  
_

* * *

**A/N: Looks like they couldn't get rid off of each other's mind :P the future chapters will be a lot better, I guarantee it! I already have a bunch of them ready, I just need to cleaned them up :D**

**But until then, I hope you'll still be here to follow up with the storeh :)**

**K byeeeeeeeee! See you next chaptah!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: YEY! Another chapter up! Again, THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH FOR FOLLOWING, REVIEWING N' FAVORITING THIS STORY! You have NO idea how much I appreciate you guys' support! ^^ thanks so much!**

**Alright now, here's the next chapter :P**

* * *

**Chapter 5: I'll still be here**

* * *

_It was Monday…_

Phil stared at himself in the mirror. He fixed his dark hair and straightened his shirt. He looked pretty fine, but on the inside, he knew he really wasn't.

He heard a knock on the door before it opened. "Philip?" His mother said. "I'm driving you to school today."

Phil turned to her. "Why can't I just take the school bus?"

His mother didn't respond. She closed the door and quickly went downstairs.

Phil sighed. It was obvious why his mother wouldn't let him ride the school bus. Dan would be there, and it would be tempting enough to sit down next to him and talk even though they weren't supposed to see each other.

He grabbed his backpack and rushed downstairs. He went outside then he walked to his mother's car. She was already inside waiting for him. He entered the car and they quickly drove to his school, awkward silence yet again filling the car ride.

Once they arrived, he exited the car and quickly scanned the school gates, looking for Dan.

"I'll pick you up after school, Philip," his mother said. "And don't even think about hanging out with Daniel behind my back. I _will_ know if you do…"

Phil sighed again and began to walk through the school gates. "Bye love!" his mother shouted from her car before driving off.

Once his mother was out of sight, he looked around the halls for Dan. Still no where to be seen. He pushed through the mass of students and walked to his locker, entering his combination code and opening it, surprised when a piece of paper fell out from inside.

He bent down and grabbed it off the floor; it was a doodle of him falling off a lion (that he was riding on) but quickly holding on to its mane, with the words: 'Hang in there' written below it, along with a certain someone's initial written on the corner of the paper.

A smiled quickly spread across his face; it was nice to know that Dan was still there for him. He carefully folded the doodle and stuffed it inside his backpack. He grabbed his books from the locker then closed it before walking off to his first class.

* * *

School went by pretty fast. Once it was lunch, he entered the cafeteria, turning his head from left to right, scanning the room for his best friend. He knew he wasn't allowed to approach him, but he just wanted to see him.

He jumped when someone clamped their hand on Phil's shoulder. He quickly turned around, silently hoping it was Dan, but it wasn't. It was PJ.

"Hey Phil," PJ greeted while he held his tray. "Are you looking for someone?"

"I-I, umm… sort of…no…" Phil stuttered.

PJ's eyes darted on Phil's cast. "What happened there?"

"It's umm… it's kind of a long story, actually…" He nervously said as they both sat down on a table.

PJ was one of Phil's good friends but he wasn't really that much open to him, he hasn't told him about his overprotective mother at least. He used to hang out with PJ a lot in school before he started to hang out with Dan.

Ever since he started to hang out with PJ a little less, PJ made his own group of friends, and Phil was left with Dan (not that he complained). They still pretty much hang out, but not that much. Since Phil couldn't hang out with Dan anymore, it looks like he would start to hang out with PJ more often again.

"Why aren't you with Dan?" PJ asked, stuffing his mouth with food.

Phil shuffled on his seat nervously, unsure if he wanted to tell PJ the truth. "Umm, I'm not supposed to hang out with him anymore…"

PJ raised both of his eyebrows in surprise. "Why not..?"

Phil shrugged. "I-It's kind of a long story…sorry…"

PJ sighed and continued to eat his food. They were shortly joined by PJ's other friends. Phil didn't really know who they were, but he joined in the conversation with them.

As PJ's friends were deep into their conversations, Phil scanned his eyes around the cafeteria again.

His heart started to beat fast when he suddenly locked his blue eyes with a familiar pair of brown ones. Dan was sitting on a table, not that far from Phil's.

Phil quickly gave him a huge smile as Dan returned with a sad one. Their gaze broke when the other kids at Dan's table started to get up and then headed to their next class. Dan flashed Phil one last smile before standing up and following them.

It made Phil frown for a bit, but other than that, he was glad that he at least had a (very) short interaction with Dan. Shortly after, Phil started to get up and walked up to his next class.

* * *

After Phil's last class, he went to the library to return books and to borrow new ones. Since he only had limited access to the TV, he spent most of his time reading books. And honestly, he enjoyed reading books more than watching TV.

He went out to the school gates and quickly spotted his mother waving at him from her car. He went over to her and got in the car, riding all the way home in silence.

When they returned back at home, Phil went up to his room and continued his everyday routine (minus the part where he would hang out with Dan). He would do his homework, go downstairs and waste 3 hours of watching TV, go back upstairs to his room, read a book, go downstairs to eat dinner, go back upstairs, read a book, get ready for bed, and sleep.

Before he went to bed that night, he caught a glimpse of Dan, from his window, staring at Phil from his own bedroom window. Once Dan noticed that Phil caught him staring, he ducked his head and quickly turned away from the glass.

Phil couldn't help but let out a giggle. He took out a sheet of paper and a marker from his bag then quickly wrote something down.

He knocked on his own window, hopefully loud enough to get Dan's attention. Luckily, Dan noticed him and Phil pulled up the paper, showing Dan his message.

_Good night :)_

Dan smiled at the message, his dimple popping out. He rummaged through his backpack, also pulling out a sheet of paper and a marker. After a few seconds, he pulled up the paper.

_Good night! :3_

Phil chuckled as he read the message. He gave Dan a little wave before turning away from the window and plopping himself on the bed, slowly drifting into a peaceful sleep.

_They weren't completely separated after all…_

* * *

**A/N: They aren't separated, yay! This story DOES get better by the chapter btw, I already have a bunch of chapters written down and I CAN assure you, a LOT more things will happen (and they WILL grow up in a few chapters, since they're still 11 in this)** **so be sure to follow the story :D the next chapter will probably be up REAL soon, I just need to clean it up a bit. I kinda like the next chapter. I mean, I had fun writing it :P  
**

**Alright so be sure to follow, fave and review it to let me know that people actually read this stuff! (so I could be able to continue :P)**

**k byeeeeee**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: This is SORT of a filler chapter but I think it had something important too (I think.. o.o) I enjoyed writing it though :P**

**And btw, just to clarify, the beginning of the story took place in like the start of November, so it wasn't like several months later or something (in this chapter)**

**Thanks again SOOO much for the faves, follows and reviews! Now here's chapter 6!**

* * *

**Chapter 6: A Christmas wish that came true  
**

* * *

Time went by pretty fast.

Days became weeks and before they knew it, it was almost Christmas.

Phil got used to hanging out with PJ and his friends, even though at times he would feel out of place. He received a bunch of doodles from Dan every now and then from his locker (and Phil would pin his personal favorites on his bedroom wall). The only interaction they had in school was smiling whenever they pass each other down the hall. But every night, they would tell each other how their days have been by writing it on sheets of papers and flashing it through their windows.

Phil's left armed healed after a week and he wasn't grounded anymore so he hung around the neighborhood with PJ (and sometimes with PJ's other friends) since he lived just a couple of blocks away from him.

Phil has been doing quite well in the past weeks. But even after he started to adapt his new routine, he still missed hanging around with Dan. Sure, they would see each other everyday, but he missed hearing his voice, his laugh and the shenanigans they used to do everyday. He just missed Dan being around near him.

It was Friday, the last day of school before winter break starts and Phil was hastily getting out of his mum's car. He was incredibly late for school; he forgot to set up the alarm.

It was freezing outside, a few snow flakes started to drop down. He quickly said his goodbye to his mum before running up the school gates, entering the empty hallway.

He stopped in front of the door to his Maths class; he nervously lifted up his fist and knocked before popping his head through the door's crack, all eyes on him including the instructor, Ms. Vale. "Umm… sorry I'm late…"

Ms. Vale stopped writing on the board. "Philip, can you please explain why you're late?"

Phil stared down at his shoes, embarrassed to show his face. "I, uhh… I-I woke up late…"

Ms. Vale clucked her tongue and shook her head in disappointment. "I'm pretty sure you're well aware of my rule when you come in my class late, don't you?"

Phil looked up at her and nodded sadly before closing the door in front of him, knowing that he isn't allowed to go in her class when he's late. He shuffled around the empty corridor until he came across his locker.

He suddenly stopped his tracks when he saw Dan sitting down on the floor across from his locker, hugging his knees and leaning against the wall. Dan turned his head and they held each other's gaze.

"Hey…" Dan quietly said as he fixed his sitting position and began to sit cross-legged, a smile visible on his face.

Phil approached him. And without even thinking, he sat down, cross-legged, next to Dan; their shoulders touching.

"Hey…" he whispered back, afraid that someone might hear or see them, thus informing it to his mother (like that would ever happen).

They just sat there in silence for several minutes, just enjoying each other's company.

"So why are you out here?" Dan asked, breaking the comfortable silence.

Phil shrugged. "I woke up late… Ms. Vale wouldn't let me in."

Dan chuckled. "I guess we're in the same boat…" he sighed, "Mr. Lance wouldn't let me in, either."

Phil smiled as he twiddled his fingers, slightly shivering; he should've worn something a bit thicker.

Comfortable silence took over them again. He glanced at Dan for a second, realizing that Dan was staring at him. Dan quickly pulled away from his stare and locked his eyes on the floor, cheeks turning a bit red. Phil would be lying if he said he didn't find that cute.

"U-Umm… I won't be here f-for Christmas…" Dan quietly said, "My parents and I are going to spend Christmas in our home town in Berkshire with my grandparents…"

Phil has to admit, this broke his heart a bit to know that Dan wouldn't be here for Christmas. It's not like they would hang out in Christmas anyway, but he wouldn't be able to see him. "When are you leaving..?"

"In 2 days…"

"O-Oh…" Phil sadly breathed out as he clutched tightly on the hem of his jumper.

"But… you know, if you're wondering…" Dan grabbed his backpack from his side and pulled out a small neatly (Christmas themed wrapper) wrapped box, smiling sadly as he handed it to Phil, "Here's your Christmas present…"

Phil stared at the neatly wrapped box for awhile before carefully taking it from Dan's hands. He couldn't help but smile at it.

"Promise me you wouldn't open it until Christmas, okay?" Dan playfully warned.

Phil looked up and smiled at him. "Okay."

"Don't just 'okay' me." Dan said, "Promise me. Do it."

Phil chuckled at his best friend's silliness. He lifted up his left arm "I promise I won't open it until Christmas."

Dan giggled as he leaned back onto the wall. Phil stuffed his present carefully inside his backpack. "I'm sorry; I don't have your present… I didn't know you were leaving…"

"Don't be sorry, it's alright." Dan said, "Besides… you already gave me my present; you fulfilled my Christmas wish."

Phil looked at him, slightly confused. "H-Huh..?"

Dan looked back at Phil, a smile forming onto his lips. "I wished to at least have a minute like this; being _this_ close to you and to actually talk to you again …"

Phil felt his face burn; he was completely flustered in red. Dan's face became a bit red as well.

"I-I err… in the most platonic way, I mean…" Dan nervously chuckled, still a bit red.

Phil, nervously chuckling with him, continued to twiddle with his thumbs.

Shortly after, the school bell began to ring. They both quickly stood up then brushed themselves. They stared at each other for a while as the hallway slowly filled in student.

"Merry Christmas, Phil…" Dan breathed out.

"Merry Christmas, Dan…"

They both gave each other one last smile before separating ways.

* * *

_It was Christmas Day _

Phil's father and brother visited their house to spend Christmas. They all exchanged greetings and hugs before entering the house.

Phil's mother and father were divorced (probably because the mother was a bit insane and controlling) and Phil's mother refused to leave the house without any share of the children, so they all decided that Phil was going to live with his mother in Lancashire.

They had their special Christmas lunch and after they finished eating, they all gathered around the Christmas tree to open up presents.

Once it was Phil's turn to open up his presents, he quickly started with the big box (which was surprisingly from his mum). He ripped the wrapper and found a white box with the words: 'MacBook Pro' printed on it. His jaw dropped.

"I'm sorry I've been really hard on you, Philip…" his mother said in an apologetic tone "I hope this at least makes up bit for, you know, everything I've done to you…"

He carefully removed the box from his lap, stood up then gave his mother a hug. As much as he hated his mother, he still understood that she was just worried about him and she wanted what was best for him.

"No playing video games on it, okay?" his mother playfully warned.

Phil chuckled as he went and sat back down next to his brother, opening up the rest of his presents. He got a pair of socks, shoes, a thick jumper and a headset.

They spent the rest of the day going out to the mall, buying a few stuff and merrily eating in fast food restaurants. The day went by pretty fast.

Once it was night time, they all went back home and quickly said their goodbyes to Phil's father and brother.

Phil entered his room and plopped himself on top of his bed, he was really tired, but he still had one last thing to do.

Phil got up and reached for his backpack, carefully taking out Dan's gift. He held it in his hands for a second before ripping the festive wrapping paper; it was a white box with the words: '_If you opened this before Christmas, I am ashamed of you._'

Phil took the time to giggle a bit at the sentence before he opened the box. Inside was a small black MP3 player that came with a set of earphones.

He took out the note that was neatly folded at the bottom of the small white box, it had Dan's handwriting.

_I don't know if your mum would approve of this thing but enjoy it anyway! You need some actual good music in your life, not the trash they show on TV. I filled in the MP3 with Muse, My Chemical Romance, Panic! At The Disco and Fall Out Boy (sorry, but that's all I have at the moment) but I still hope you enjoy it._

_From your best friend,  
Dan c:_

Phil smiled at the letter. He placed the box on his bed as he stood up.

He looked out his window and stared at Dan's, still smiling at the sheet of paper that Dan left taped to his own window with the words: '_Merry Christmas, Phil! :3_' written on it.

"_Merry Christmas, Dan…"  
_

* * *

**A/N: "In the most platonic way" yeah right, we all know that's not true considering that this is a _Phan_ ficiton xP (and would you believe that I had to Google what kind of box does the MacBook pro come in with? :P)The next chapter will be up very soon (I'll probably be releasing two chapters next time since the next one is kind of short) SO LOOK FORWARD TO DAT ^^**

**So please feel free to leave a review, follow and to favorite this story to let me know that someone actually cares about this story! :D it'll motivate me to continue writing ^^**

**k byeeeee_  
_**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Yay for new chapter? ^^ btw, I remember I wrote this chapter _really_ early in the morning (literally at 6 am) that was because I didn't get ANY sleep that night (I rolled around my bed for 6 hours until I finally gave up) so I was a BIT delusional when I wrote this chapter xD**

**As always, thanks again for the reviews, faves and follows! I hope you enjoy this chapter! :D**

* * *

**Chapter 7: Dan's replacement?  
**

* * *

Phil's birthday was coming up, it was tomorrow actually. He was turning twelve.

PJ caught up with him in the school gates before he walked over to his mother's car.

"Hey, your birthday's tomorrow, right?" PJ asked and Phil nodded.

"Oh well, happy birthday in advance!" PJ happily greeted "I'm going to my grandparents' house tomorrow, so sorry if I can't hang out with you…"

Phil smiled and shrugged. "It's alright, and thanks…"

PJ smiled back and quickly said his goodbye before running off to the school bus. Phil ran up and got in his mother's car.

"Hey Philip, there are new people moving in the house from across ours, and they have a boy your age." Phil's mother randomly said as she drove, "Maybe he could be Daniel's replacement, he seemed really nice. He helped me with some groceries today."

Phil felt his hands ball up into fists.

_He'll never be Dan's replacement…_

As they parked in their driveway, they noticed people from across the street moving furniture inside the house.

Phil went inside his house, went up to his room and opened up his laptop. His mother bought an internet router a few weeks ago and ever since then, he couldn't leave his computer. He took out his MP3 player from his bag and turned it on to Muse and plugged the earphones in his ears.

He opened up Skype once he saw Dan was on. Dan came back from his Christmas vacation in Berkshire a few days ago. Phil informed him (by flashing messages through the window) that he had internet and he received a laptop as a Christmas present from his mum.

Dan told him his Skype name (and also taught him how to make a Skype account through the window) and they began to chat through there, which was so much easier. They could only chat through the text since Dan didn't own a webcam.

He quickly started up the chat:

_PHIL LESTER: 'hey dan! :)'_

_**DAN HOWELL: 'hi phil! :3 what's up?'**_

_PHIL LESTER: 'new people are moving in across from us.'_

_**DAN HOWELL: 'yeah, I saw too'**_

_PHIL LESTER: 'my mum thinks it's a good idea for me to befriend the family's son since he's the same age as us.'_

_**DAN HOWELL: 'aren't you gonna..?'**_

_PHIL LESTER: 'I was thinking about it… I mean, that was, until my mum told me he could serve as your replacement.'_

_**DAN HOWELL: '*gasp* NO! I'm your best friend lol x3'**_

_PHIL LESTER: 'lmao ^^'_

_**DAN HOWELL: 'are you gonna befriend him anyway?'**_

_PHIL LESTER: 'idk maybe… :/'_

_**DAN HOWELL: 'know his name yet..?'**_

_PHIL LESTER: 'not yet'_

_**DAN HOWELL: 'do you think he goes to the same school as us?'**_

_PHIL LESTER: 'idk probably'_

_**DAN HOWELL: 'you think he's nice?'**_

_PHIL LESTER: 'I sure hope so... o.o'_

_**DAN HOWELL: 'if he is, I'm thinking of befriending him as well :P'**_

_PHIL LESTER: 'DON'T REPLACE ME! D;'_

_**DAN HOWELL: 'haha lol of course not x3'**_

_PHIL LESTER: 'haha ^^'_

_**DAN HOWELL: 'btw your bday's tomorrow, isn't it?'**_

_PHIL LESTER: 'yeah, why..?'_

_**DAN HOWELL: 'got any plans?'**_

_PHIL LESTER: 'idk yet, I wish my mum would actually let me hang out with you tomorrow, that would be a pretty awesome present'_

_**DAN HOWELL: 'hey, that would! maybe try asking her tomorrow?'**_

_PHIL LESTER: 'yeah! maybe…' _

They continued their conversation until it became late, they said their good nights before sleeping.

* * *

_It was Phil's 12__th__ birthday…_

It didn't really feel like his birthday, he was greeted by his mother in the morning and she prepared his 'special' breakfast, which was just pancakes but Phil still enjoyed it none the less.

His mother didn't plan on buying a birthday cake (because it was sugary and Phil needs his "vegetables") but his mother told him he had unlimited access to TV and he had an extra hour to hang out with his friends. He would've really appreciated the second offer if PJ or Dan was available.

At noon, his mother decided that they should go greet their new neighbor from across the street and give them a house warming gift. His mother merrily rang the doorbell and waited for a response, Phil waiting beside her. A nice looking woman with short dirty blond hair opened the door and gave them a smile, gesturing them to enter.

They entered the living room and sat down on the sofa, the nice looking woman came back with friendly looking man with her.

Phil's mother began to have a deep conversation with the nice looking people. Phil, on the other hand, just looked around the room, gradually familiarizing everything on sight.

"Oh you're absolutely going to love it here." Phil's mother happily said, "It's a nice neighborhood, there are nice people, there's a really nice school near by; everything's just really nice."

"Oh we're so glad to hear that…" the woman smiled. She suddenly fixed her eyes on the small figure next to Phil's mother. Phil ducked his head, his face becoming slightly red under the woman's gaze. "Is he your son..?"

"Yeah, his name is Philip and it's his 12th birthday today actually." Phil's mother proudly said.

"Happy Birthday, then." the woman happily greeted, "He's a charming boy by the way. And we have a son just his age too."

Phil's mother nodded. "I did see, he's really polite as well. He helped me carry my groceries back at home."

The woman smiled. "He _is_ a sweetheart, Philip should really meet him. Although not now, he's still a bit busy unpacking his stuff in his room, maybe some other time."

They continued their conversation before Phil shyly asked if he could wee in their bathroom.

"Of course, Philip…" The woman chuckled. "It's the first one in the hallway to the left."

Phil quickly thanked them as he got up and awkwardly shuffled out of the room into the hallway, suddenly running into someone before he got to the bathroom door; he looked as young as Phil.

His skin was fair, he was roughly the same height as Phil and he had short, clean cut, dirty blonde hair. The boy stared at him with his jaw dropped, extremely confused and terrified.

Phil awkwardly stood next to the bathroom door, still under the boy's confused stare. "Umm… i-is it okay if I use your bathroom? I-I just need to wee…"

The boy closed his jaw then cleared his throat. "Err… yeah, sure. Go ahead." he quickly said, "Umm… you're not a homeless person who by chance broke in here just to wee, are you?"

Phil rapidly shook his head. "N-No, no… umm, my mum and I came to visit your house to sort of welcome you to the neighborhood."

The boy chuckled. "Oh okay…" he smiled at Phil, "I'm James, by the way."

"Philip, but I preferred it if you just called me Phil…" he smiled back, then awkward silence taking over them.

James coughed. "Umm, you can take a wee now…"

Phil giggled as he left the hallway entered the bathroom. Before he closed the bathroom door behind him, James quickly said, "Feel free to enter my bedroom so we could have a proper introduction, okay?"

Phil turned back and smiled at James, "Okay."

He finally closed the bathroom door, the smile still latched on his face.

_He seems nice…_

* * *

**A/N: "UH OH" for new original character in the story? xP so what do you think of James? Do YOU think he's nice? Do you trust him? I barely make OC's in fanfictions. And if I do, it's for important reasons (not telling what though, you gotta find that out for yerself ^^)**

**Sorry if this chapter is short, next chapter will be up _really_ soon, and it's KIND OF a long one. Actually, this chapter and chapter 8 are supposed to be just one big chapter, but then "delusional me" who didn't get any sleep that night thought that it was a bit too long for one chapter so I divided them into two :P**

**SO LOOK FORWARD TO THAT! And feel free to leave a review and/or to fave and follow this story because that would mean the world to me and it would encourage me to write faster because I enjoy writting this story so much I don't know why ^^;**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Yay for new chapter? I kind of liked this chapter tbh, I thought this chapter was pretty cute :3 and I hope you guys like it too! BTW! Side note, I wrote another Phanfic called "What is love?" and it's a short, cute and sweet Phanfic with just a few chapters, and I would be writing that to help me get in the zone on writing Phanfics (don't worry, I'll still be writing this one!) so feel free to check that out if yer interested! :D  
**

* * *

**Chapter 8: Stay for tonight  
**

* * *

They spent the entire afternoon at James' house and Phil thought James was pretty cool. They talked a bit and James showed him a bunch of his video game character figures; he was nice, and Phil liked him. Once it was 7:00 pm, they said their goodbyes and returned back home. Phil gave Dan's house a quick glance, wondering where he was; he hadn't seen him all day.

When Phil's mother walked in the kitchen, Phil slowly approached her. "Mum..?"

"What is it, Philip?" his mother asked as she started to cut up onions.

Phil nervously cleared his throat. "C-Can I go to Dan's for a bit? I won't be long; I just want to see him…"

Phil's mum stopped cutting and slowly turned to her son, with an angrily confused expression. "Philip, we've already discussed this…"

Phil flinched. "B-But it's my birthday… and I just wanted to-"

"That is _not_ an exception." his mother abruptly said. "I told you that you are never going to hang out with that boy, _ever again_."

"Why not?!"

"Because it's for the best, Philip!" Phil's mother shouted, "And he knows that too, I made _sure_ he knows it."

"What did you even tell him?" Phil harshly asked. "What did you tell him to make sure he doesn't stand less than a frikin mile away from me?"

Phil's mother fixed her hair. "That is none of your business, Philip." she said, she couldn't risk telling him that he would have to move away from Dan if he ever came close to him again, he would hate her for sure.

She turned back at the cutting board and continued to cut onions. "Now go to room, right now… you wouldn't want me to ground you on your birthday. I'll call you when dinner's ready."

"I'm not hungry…" Phil mumbled, suddenly losing the ability to argue. He sadly walked up into his room and laid down his bed, letting out one big sigh.

Phil slowly stood up and went to his window, expecting to see Dan. He couldn't see Dan through his window, his curtains were shut and the lights were off. He grabbed his laptop from the desk and opened up Skype, Dan wasn't on. He couldn't help but wonder where his best friend was and what he was doing.

He closed his laptop, placed it on the table beside his bed and then laid down next to the pillows. His eyelids began to close and before he knew it, he fell asleep.

* * *

He suddenly woke up in the middle of the night again, nothing waking him up this time, he just woke up. He glanced at his digital clock, 1:25 am.

He sighed. _"Great, just great…"_ he thought, this was going to take him sometime before he could fall asleep again. He darted his eyes outside the window, there were a lot of stars tonight.

He turned away from the window and faced the wall that was pinned with a bunch of pictures and a few of his favorite doodles from Dan. He slowly smiled to himself.

_If only Dan was here..._

He suddenly started to hear the window behind him rattle. He quickly turned around and saw a silhouette of a person right outside his window, desperately trying to lift it up. Phil froze for a minute, terrified by the fact that an intruder was trying to get through the glass pane.

Before he started to shout for his mother to come in, he narrowed his eyes for a bit, trying his best to figure out who it was that was trying to break in.

Phil's eyes widened as soon as he realized who it was. His heart raced and before he knew it, he was hurriedly shuffling towards the silhouette. "Dan!"

Dan quickly shushed him from behind the glass, gesturing Phil to open the window. Phil unlocked it and lifted it up, seeing Dan kneeling on his roof. He was surprised his mother didn't hear him climb up.

"What are you doing here? How did you get up here? Did you just parkour your way up here?!" Phil whispered loud enough for Dan to hear. Dan giggled as he sat down on his window's frame, swaying his legs inside Phil's room.

"I was going to leave this on your desk." Dan quietly whispered as he swung his backpack in front of him and pulled out a huge shoe box covered in a birthday wrapper, handing it to Phil. "Happy birthday, Phil."

Phil quickly took the box and smiled at Dan who was starting to carefully climb out of the window and down the roof.

Before Dan climbed out of the window, Phil tugged the sleeve of his jacket and looked at him with plead in his eyes. "N-No, please… come in, stay for a bit."

Dan frowned. "I can't, Phil. Your mother will find out… and when she does, she'll-"

"Please…" Phil begged, "Please come in and stay, my mum's a heavy sleeper anyways. Please, just for a bit … it's freezing outside…"

Phil was right, it was still snowing outside. Dan's hair and coat were covered with a few snow flakes and he was shivering a bit.

Dan stared into Phil's crystal blue eyes and got himself lost in them for a moment.

_Beautiful…_

He bit his lip and sighed before he finally considered the offer. He carefully climbed back into Phil's window, his feet touching the floor. He looked up at Phil and they both smiled at each other.

They began to quietly build a fort by taking 2 chairs, placing both of it next to the edge of the bed and then pulled a duvet over it, making a small tent between the chairs and the bed's edge that could fit both of them in, hoping that it would make their conversation sound proof.

They quickly got in the fort, Phil bringing in his birthday present with him.

Dan pulled out a torch from his backpack and flicked it open, suddenly revealing his brightly lit face.

"Why do you have a torch with you?" Phil giggled.

Dan shrugged. "It was dark outside..."

Phil chuckled; he really missed having Dan around him. Dan flashed the torch on Phil and the light bounced off the duvet around them, illuminating the entire fort.

"Better…" Dan smiled as he sat cross-legged on the carpeted floor. Phil, slightly covering his face from the light pointed at him, did the same.

"Where did you go today?" Phil asked, "Your house was completely abandoned."

"My aunt had a baby and my mum insisted that we all go to the hospital to visit her." Dan casually said, "Yeah… it was a long visit, so sorry if I wasn't around earlier."

Phil nodded along. "It's alright; we actually visited the new people across the street."

"Really?" Dan suddenly became really interested at the topic, "What were they like?"

"They were surprisingly nice." Phil happily said, "I also kind of met their son. His name was James, and he seemed really nice too."

"Hey, don't replace me just yet." Dan joked as he pulled his knees up close and hugged them, "So how did your birthday go?"

Phil sighed as he played with his fingers. "Not very well, I'll tell you that." he mumbled sadly, "We didn't really do anything. PJ was with his grandparents and I kind of had an argument with my mother earlier…"

Dan carefully placed his hand on Phil's shoulder, slightly trying to comfort him, still holding the torch with the other hand. Phil turned to Dan and smiled.

Dan didn't want to ruin their atmosphere by talking about Phil's argument with his mother; he wanted to enjoy each other's company as long as they still can. So they just sort of smiled at each other like that for a few minutes before Phil reached out and grabbed Dan's gift, bringing it to his lap.

"Now, I wonder what you got me…" Phil giggled as he shook the box.

Dan removed his hand from Phil's shoulder and scooted closer to him. "I actually bought that earlier when we went to the gift shop that was next to the hospital." Dan chuckled, "So it was _kind of_ last minute, really."

"Thanks Dan, I really appreciate it…" Phil smiled.

"Don't thank me, you haven't opened it yet." Dan laughed.

Phil began to rip the wrapping paper and it revealed a giant white box, he hastily opened it and saw the stuffed lion that was squished inside the box. He quickly took it out (saving it from suffocating inside the box) and held it in his hands, his face hurting a bit from smiling so widely.

"I thought it was pretty cute." Dan mumbled next to him, "And since you liked lions, I thought 'why the hell not?' and bought it. I hope you like it."

Phil smiled at Dan as he gave the stuffed lion a giant bear hug. "I love it, Dan…" he whispered.

"It's nothing really… at least now you have something to clutch on while you sleep." Dan said, smiling back at Phil.

Phil, carefully laying the stuffed lion down on the carpeted floor, quickly launched and swung his arms around Dan, engulfing him into a warm embrace. Dan flinched a bit by Phil's sudden action, but then slowly wrapped his arms around the boy.

"Thank you so much…" Phil whispered, still holding on to his best friend. Dan smiled as he tightened his grip around the boy, enjoying the warmth of his body.

After a few minutes of staying in each other's embrace, Dan hesitantly pulled away and checked his watch. "P-Phil… I think I should go, I-I can't stay here too long." he stuttered, "Your mum… I-I don't want her to catch us… I don't want you to move away…"

Phil eyed his best friend curiously. "What do you mean 'm-move away'?" Phil's eyes widened, "Y-You mean if she catches us hanging out together, she's going to make me move away?"

Dan nodded. "And I'm not letting that happen… I need to go, Phil." Dan sadly said, "I-I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"

Dan quietly exited the fort, turned the torch off and stuffed it in his backpack before walking over to the window.

"Wait!" Phil quietly exclaimed as he caught up with Dan, "Can we do this again some other time…? You know, secretly meet up and stuff…"

Dan turned to Phil with a worried look. "Phil… that's a little bit _too_ risky, don't you think?"

"Yeah but… can we? I mean, it doesn't have to be here… we can have it somewhere else, somewhere only we know." Phil pleaded.

Dan thought about it for a second before agreeing. "Alright then, we'll talk about this through Skype, okay?"

A huge smile spread across Phil's face. They both exchanged their goodbyes before Dan quietly exited through the window and climbed down the roof. Phil was impressed that Dan could climb down the roof without making a sound, he was like a ninja.

Phil watched as Dan ran across Phil's garden and continued his way home.

Phil didn't know if he was supposed to feel happy because he would see Dan again, or angry with the fact that his mother could easily take Phil away from Dan. Either way, he needed to be extra careful with their secret meet ups in the future, he needed to make sure his mother wouldn't find out.

_They just hoped that what they were doing was worth the risk…_

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**A/N: SOOOO what do you guys think? You think they're gonna get caught? Or do you think Phil's mother will find out about it and take Phil away from Dan? OR do YOU think that Phil's mum WILL find out but she just wont care?! STICK AROUND TO FIND OUT!**_  
_  
**And the next chapter will come out in a few days! And I think it's a pretty cute one, PROBABLY my favorite one so far as it wasn't really that hard to write it and it was KIND OF fluffy. I dunno, I cant really classify stuff as fluffy if kissing and cuddling aren't involved in it :P_ (*coughcough it might,you'llneverknowcoughcough*)_**

**SO LOOK FORWARD TO THAT! As usual, please feel free to leave a review and follow and/or fave the story, as it will make my day ^^_  
_**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Oh hei, sorry it's been quite a while (was it?) I had a bit of a writer's block but I'm back now with a new chapter! :D btw, if you dont see me updating this story, then I'm probably working on my other short and sweet Phanfic called: "What is Love?" so you can go check that out if you want!  
(=^w^=)  
**

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**Chapter 9: Do you like anyone?  
**

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Time flew by faster than they had expected it.

An entire year passed by, and everyone was doing surprisingly well.

Phil's mother began to loosen up a bit, but she was still keeping her son and Dan from seeing each other, and Phil was just as happy as he was before. He and Dan began to secretly hang out every Saturday in their 'secret meet up place' which was inside an obscure forest near the park, still hoping that Phil's mother would never find out about it.

Phil was beginning to be accepted in PJ's little group of friends in school, and Dan made a small group of friends in school as well; it seemed like everything was turning out better than what had Phil expected.

"Phil? Were you even listening?" James asked, pulling Phil back from his thoughts.

"Huh?" Phil breathed out, "No, sorry… what were you saying again?"

James sighed and adjusted his sitting position on the grass. They were both sitting on James' garden in front of his house, sharing stories since they hadn't hung out awhile.

Phil and James had hung out a couple of times in the past year; they would play in the park, hang out in James' room, go and buy stuff in stores etc. But they always seem to like the idea of just sitting on the grass in front of James' house and share stories. According to Dan, he and James hung out a bit too, probably just as much as Phil and James do.

They would always hang out separately together; there would be days where he would hang out with Phil and days where he would hang out with Dan, and it had gotten to the point where James had to question why they couldn't, all three, hang out together. Dan and Phil had to explain and James quickly understood, but they didn't tell him that they were secretly seeing each other; they didn't really trust him (even though they both know he's a really good kid).

"Alright," James started, "there's this… umm, _girl_… that I really like. Like,_really_ like…"

Phil nodded his head along. "Yeah…?"

James started to nervously twiddle his thumbs. "And… well, I told her that I liked her, and you know, also told her that maybe we could go out sometime…"

Phil stared at James, both eyebrows raised, a bit surprised of his friend's courage because Phil knew that James was pretty shy around girls. "Oh… alright then, what did she say?"

James looked down at the ground and started to harshly pull out a few strands of grass. "She rejected me, that fucking bitch…"

"W-Whoa, James..." Phil stuttered, taken back by James' sudden change of attitude. James wasn't like this; he was sweet, understanding and over all a really good kid.

James breathed in and breathed out, trying his best to regain himself again.

"Sorry. I just couldn't really handle rejection well and I _really_ liked her. But she said she liked someone else." James angrily mumbled the last sentence but Phil still heard it.

Phil reached out and awkwardly patted James' back, hoping that it would comfort him a bit. "I'm sorry, mate… I'm sure you'll find someone else who would like you back…"

"Yeah…" James whispered before he quickly stood up. "I got to go, Phil. I have a few errands to run."

Phil followed, standing up as well. "Okay… I'll see you around?"

James nodded before walking away. Phil crossed the road and entered his house.

His mother was out buying groceries so he had the place to himself for a bit. He climbed up the stairs, opened the door to his room and threw himself on the bed. He rolled over and checked his digital clock. 4:14 pm, he should have been in his and Dan's secret place ten minutes ago.

He swiftly got up from his bed, went downstairs and out the door. He sped walked to the secret place, excited to see his best friend again.

* * *

After going through several trees, Phil finally arrived at their secret place. A small but beautiful lake centered the endless forest, no one seemed to have found it yet (because who the hell would have the time to go through this deep in the woods?) except for Dan and Phil.

They found the place when they were ten. They were playing hide and seek in the forest when Phil found Dan, deep in the woods, standing in front of the lake, just in awe. And they declared it as their secret hiding place ever since they were forced to separate.

The place was empty and quiet. Dan was supposed to be here before him since he was ten minutes late, but it seemed like Phil was first. He walked around the lake for a bit, waiting for Dan's arrival, he was taking awhile.

Phil wasn't aware that Dan was hiding behind the trees, waiting for the right moment to jump and scare Phil.

Dan quietly tip-toed behind Phil once he sat down in front of the lake and stared at the water. He carefully leaned in behind his ear and screamed, "BOO!"

Phil squealed and violently jumped, scrambling on the floor as Dan laughed.

"Oh my god," he exclaimed as he rolled over and sat up, seeing Dan's pleased expression, "you're the worst person in the entire world…"

Dan shrugged and chuckled, playing with the dangly things attached to his llama hat -which Phil gave for his 13th birthday. "I've always wanted to do that; you should've seen your face."

Phil sighed and shook his head in disbelief.

"What took you so long?" Dan started.

"I was with James, we were telling each other stories." Phil replied.

"Oh?" Dan said as he grabbed a few stones and stood up, walking up to the lake and threw a stone, "What did you tell each other?"

Phil shrugged as he watched his best friend throw stones from behind. "I didn't really tell him that much but he told me he liked someone and he tried to ask them out."

The water formed a huge splashed as Dan threw a big stone. "Did he now?"

"Yeah, apparently he said that the girl rejected him because she liked someone else," Phil said as he stared down at the ground and started to play with a few stands of grass, "Poor guy. He talked a bit too harshly behind her back; it wasn't like him, honestly… I don't know what's gotten into him…"

Dan continued to throw a few stones in the lake, "Hmm… interesting…"

Phil looked up at Dan, "What about you? Do you like anyone in particular?"

Dan chuckled at the question as he threw the last stone in the lake.

"Anyone in particular?" Dan asked as he turned to Phil who was staring up at him, "Umm… I don't think so, no."

Phil sighed as he lay down on the grass and stared up at the trees above them before he closed his eyes. Dan walked over and sat down beside Phil. "You?"

"Hmm..?"

"Do you like anyone?"

Phil thought about it for a while, humming Feeling Good by Muse as he thought. He slowly opened his eye lids and looked up at Dan, who was staring down at him curiously.

Phil shrugged. "I can't think of anyone right now…"

Dan scoffed, "Yeah, right. What about that girl, Sarah, you liked in your Maths class?"

"Oh yeah…" Phil chuckled, "yeah, I guess you can say she counts. I mean, she's wonderful, but I don't really fancy her… "

"I see then…" Dan whispered as he lay down next to Phil, both staring at the trees above them. "So what catches your fancy then?"

"Hmm…" Phil thought, "Well I like it when they wouldn't take themselves too seriously. Like, I like it when they would be able to laugh at themselves."

Dan nodded, listening carefully to his best friend.

"And I like it when they're silly, and funny, and just basically fun to have around…" Phil continued. He turned his head to Dan, who was staring up at the trees. "What about you..?"

Dan sighed as he pulled his 'thinking face'.

"Hmm… let's see… I like it when they would also be silly and fun to have around. And I have a bit of a thing for black haired people. So maybe if they have black hair, I would like them a bit more." Dan chuckled.

Phil ruffled his own hair. "Is that why you like me? Because I have black hair?"

Dan giggled. He took off his llama hat, revealing his ridiculously curly brown hair, and threw it on Phil's face, "Of course not, you turnip. I like you because you're you, okay? I'm not _that_ shallow."

Phil chuckled as he held Dan's llama hat in his hands. "Right…" he giggled as he put on the llama hat, "What happened to you? Bad hair day? It's a lot curlier than usual…"

"Shut up…" Dan giggled as he fixed his hair, "I hate my hair, maybe one day I'll have it straight, and maybe dye it a bit darker."

"Really? I like it like that, it's adorable," Phil said, his face flushing a bit as he sat up on the grass, "you kind of look like a hobbit."

"Yeah, well that's what they all say." Dan added, quickly snatching his llama hat from Phil and wore it to cover his messy curls, "But I will straighten it, whether you guys like it or not. I just need some money to buy some straighteners."

Phil just nodded along. He liked the way Dan looked with his curly hair; he thought he looked really cute, in fact, while he was on the subject, he thought everything about Dan is cute.

The way he laughed, the way he smiled, the way his dimple pops out when he laughed and smiled, everything about him was cute and adorable, and Phil couldn't help but stare lovingly at him, but it wasn't like Phil was attracted to him- was it?

Phil quickly shook that thought away as they continued to talk about a lot of other stuff until they realized it was almost five and Phil needed to be home. "I'll see you next Saturday, yeah?" Dan said as Phil began to walk into the forest.

"Definitely…" Phil replied, waving goodbye to Dan before he entered the forest, exiting their secret place.

_Phil didn't know why, but he when he left the forest that afternoon, he felt a bit fuzzy inside…  
_

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**A/N: Oh yeah, did I mention that Dan had his natural curly hair this entire time? I dont think I have xPP and I should've also made Phil wear glasses but I think it was a bit too late to make him wear glasses, oh well! Let's just assume he isn't blind :P**

**Next chapter will be up soon so make sure to fave/follow and leave a review to remind me that people read this stuff xP it would make my whole day ^^_  
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